There are many medical procedures where a lead, catheter, electrode, and/or other medical device may be implanted into a patient's body cavity, recess, vessel, organ, and/or other body lumen. In many of these procedures, a delivery sheath, guide catheter, or other tubular member may be used to facilitate delivering the medical device, with the tubular member removed after placement of the medical device. Additionally, it may be desirable to provide a substantially fluid tight seal between the delivery sheath, guide catheter, or other tubular member and the lead, catheter, electrode, guidewire, and/or other medical device, e.g., for the purpose of hemostasis, infusion of therapeutic or diagnostic agents, and the like. However, the process of removing the tubular member from around the medical device after the medical device has been placed may be difficult and/or time consuming.
For example, a delivery sheath used to deliver a cardiac lead may not be easily removed from around the lead without disturbing the placement of the lead, which must remain in the patient. Therefore, apparatus that may facilitate the delivery of devices, provide a seal or substantial seal, and/or facilitate removal without substantially disturbing placement of the lead and/or other device may be desirable.